A rare moment of wisdom

Thursday

Mar 29, 2012 at 5:43 PM

Many local folks would love to have another set of eyes going over the parish’s books. But whose?

Michael GormanEditorial Page Editor

Many local folks would love to have another set of eyes going over the parish’s books. But whose?Just think how beneficial it would be to have someone pointing out the foibles a parish administration that has had more than its share of shortcomings.From the recent building-permit fiasco to the overtime paid to department heads in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Lafourche Parish President Charlotte Randolph is no stranger to scandal.The prospect of having an internal auditor is tempting indeed — someone who might be able to bring scrutiny to potential problems before the parish president goes ahead with them anyway.Making it significantly less tempting, though, is the name being mentioned for the job.Former parish councilman and twice-rejected parish president candidate Tommy Lasseigne was one of three finalists named by a Parish Council search committee.A political rival of Randolph, Lasseigne would be sure to bring fireworks to the job. But is that what we want from parish government? Are our political powers there to entertain us or to do work?In Louisiana, we sometimes take the entertainment value of our politics for granted. We almost revel in the characters who rise to prominence in our state and local governments.One of those characters is Daniel Lorraine, for years the ringleader of the Council Five, a majority voting bloc that held Lafourche Parish hostage for four years, refusing to adopt a budget or even approve department heads for former Parish President Buzz Breaux.Lasseigne was not on the council at that time. He took office on the next council, the one elected in 2003 when Randolph rose to the parish presidency.Hopes were high as just a few holdovers from the Council Five days remained in office. Those hopes were soon dashed, though, as Lorraine and Lasseigne worked together to thwart Randolph at every turn.One of Lasseigne’s favorite pastimes while he was in office was trying to make it easier for the Parish Council to interfere in the workings of the administration. So these folks have a history, and not a useful, productive one.The council would have made a grave error — not its first, I’ll admit — by hiring Lasseigne to act as some sort of watchdog on parish government.Lorraine has said he never intended the post to be antagonistic toward Randolph, but Lasseigne surely would have been.And Lorraine knows it.Fortunately, five council members did the right thing and voted this horrible idea down earlier this week.Not that it will fade quietly into memory. Instead, like the Council Five, its ugly head will probably resurface from time to time.“I’m not going to let it die,” Lorraine said.It is possible that an internal auditor would save Randolph from herself.Perhaps an auditor would have suggested that it might not be wise to lease her Grand Isle camp to BP while the parish dealt with the ongoing effects — legal and otherwise — of the 2010 oil spill.An auditor might have advised against spending BP money on laptop computers for her staff rather than using the money to help people and businesses hurt by the spill.For all the good an auditor might do, though, I have learned over more than a decade never to overestimate the Parish Council’s potential for good.No, with Lorraine pulling the strings and Lasseigne leading the way, the office could be little more than an embarrassment for a parish that needs no such thing.People who have watched Lafourche Parish government for any significant period of time will join me in sharing the desire for closer scrutiny of the parish’s leadership. Who’s doing the watching, though, matters a great deal.And this would not have been a great deal.

Editorial Page Editor Michael Gorman can be reached at 448-7612 or by e-mail at mike.gorman@dailycomet.com.

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